Jessica Chappell
SPED 854
Broken Arm Co-Teaching
Through reading the article “Instructional Accommodations and Co-Teaching: A Broken Arm” it
is clear that both Mary King and Helen are passionate educators who care a great deal for the
education outcomes of their students. However, they both take a different approach to this and
show it in different ways. Helen, the general education teacher, care deeply for her students postsecondary lives and feels a great responsibility to great the most effective and prepared students
possible before they enter college. She pushes her students to push themselves and believes that if
she holds high standards for them they will reach new heights by obtaining them. Mary King also
has high hopes for her students but she believes that nurturing the students, listening to their
worries and meeting their individual needs is what will allow them to reach their goals and push
them to their full potential. I think both teachers are motivated by their genuine care and concern
for the students’ lives after high school. However, I also see that Helen is also motivated by her
students’ performance on the high-stakes end of course assessments.
I think the main problem in this circumstance is a lack of communication. Since neither teacher
knew who they were co-teaching with until the first day of school there was little to no time to plan
collaboratively or develop roles of responsibilities together before enter the first class.
Accompanying this was the special education teachers drive to keep the co-teaching relationship
positive, which eventually lead to her under advocating for her student’s needs. Mary King
disagreed with Helen’s drive and emphasis on spelling and was fearful from the beginning the
special education students in the class but she waited until almost the end of the first grading
period before she really spoke up to Helen. Mary allowed Helen to take on the leader role for the
classroom and unknowingly she took on more of a paraprofessional role in the classroom than a
true co-teacher. All of these issues are very common in co-teaching experiences since the general
education teacher has the content knowledge it is easy for them to take the lead role in the
classroom and leave the special education teacher to more of an assistant for struggling students.
Jessica Chappell
SPED 854
Broken Arm Co-Teaching
In order to prevent issues like this from arising in a co-teaching relationship you must be able and
willing to speak your mind and really bring your thoughts and concerns up to your partner. You
must also have a common time to collaborate and discuss all of these issues and debate differing
viewpoints until an acceptable resolution can be made for all of the students’ best interests. In this
specific case both teachers should have sat down and brainstormed accommodations that could
have been made to that would have help Jim be successful with his homework and tests.
I believe that it is appropriate to provide accommodations as soon as you see a students with a
disability beginning to struggle. Accommodations should be provided as supplemental aids or
supports to allow the student to overcome their deficits and therefore should be provided first as a
way of helping the students work around their challenges. Mary provided Jim with several
accommodations including making flash cards, breaking his spelling list in half and then even into a
couple words at a time, and giving him supplemental instruction in spelling techniques. None of
these accommodations proved successful and therefore modification should have been explored
and implements to help Jim find a way to functional to his full potential without having the same
standards and instructions as the other students. I feel that modification should be implemented
after accommodations have been tried and proved ineffective. Mary tried to make modifications
for Jim by pushing for him to be able to select spelling words for a word bank or fill in the sentences
but Helen was opposed to this modification. I believe that the modifications that were proposed by
Mary would have been successful since it is clear that Jim’s vocabulary and work knowledge was not
the problem but rather that he struggled with remembering and sequencing the letters in the
correct order. The accommodations were not successful because they did not address Jim’s
inability to sequence letters in the correct order. Using a word processor with spell check or
selecting the correct word from a word bank would have likely solved Jim’s spelling issues but they
were never tried due to Helen’s opposition to lowering her standards.
Jessica Chappell
SPED 854
Broken Arm Co-Teaching
Collaboration and communication between not only the co-teachers but also the parents,
students, and community is the only way to ensure full benefit for all students. Only by discussing
with everyone involved can an educator develop a clear picture of the student’s needs, desires, and
hopeful outcomes. Mary was able to discuss with Jim why he was preforming poorly on the tests,
discuss with his other teachers how and why he was preforming well in their classes, and with his
parents about his struggles with the homework at home and his willingness and motivation to do
well in school which lead her to some great modification for him. These modification would have
allowed Jim to not only pass his English class but also perform well in his other classes and in his
post-secondary schooling. Only through collaborating with each member involved with the student
was Mary able to develop such a clear picture of Jim and his needs. Jim’s example shows exactly
why this communication and collaboration is so essential and necessary when working with
struggling students.